He thus asserts that he “never” sought the position of president of the Republic.
Until a few weeks ago, González Urrutia was just another grandfather visiting his daughter and grandchildren, who live outside Venezuela, and enjoying two months of family rest. However, that slow pace and anonymity will have to wait as he now campaigns to become the next president of Venezuela.
In the dizzying world of Venezuelan politics, the former ambassador is now a key player in the efforts to overthrow Nicolas Maduroas presidential candidate of the main opposition faction, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
“I have never held a popularly elected position. I have never participated in the partisan politics of electing popular positions,” he stated. “I accepted it with enormous responsibility and as a contribution on my part to the democratization of the country, to the process of trying to seek understanding, reconciliation, of Venezuelans,” he said.
González became the PUD candidate last month, after the former representative was prevented from registering. Maria Corina Machadowho last year won the opposition primaries by an overwhelming majority, as well as Corina Yoris, the alternative candidate he had named.
This is how the coalition leaders opted for González 15 days after his return from vacation, and he accepted with several conditions, including that his wife be convinced of the decision.
Campaign will start at the end of May
There will be 10 candidates in the July 28 elections, but beyond the PUD, no other is expected to pose a threat to Maduro, who officially launched his candidacy for a third term in March, which would keep him in power until 2031. .
Machado had been campaigning for more than a year, even after the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), friendly to the regime, ratified an administrative decision that prevented his candidacy. Recently he began asking his followers, who come in thousands to his rallies, to vote for González Urrutia, who has not yet appeared before the crowds. According to what he said, he plans to start his campaign at the end of this month and explained that Machado and other opposition leaders will continue organizing events throughout the country.
“The important thing about this is the enthusiasm with which it happens”, noted about popular support, which comes after years of calls for boycotts of the elections by the opposition and a general sense of apathy among voters repeatedly disappointed by the faction’s long-standing promises of change. “Those feelings of joy, of a democratic celebration, are awakening,” he said.
Asked about the role that Machado could have in his government if he wins the elections, González Urrutia indicated that “it is premature to think what position he is going to take.” What matters for the moment, he added, is that Machado and the PUD are “pulling in the same direction.”
Machado is not part of the coalition, but was allowed to participate in the primaries on October 22, where he received more than 90% of the votes.
Trajectory
Until now, few had heard of this 74-year-old former diplomat, even within the Venezuelan opposition. González Urrutia began his professional career as assistant to the country’s ambassador to the United States. He was later stationed in Belgium and El Salvador, and served as ambassador of Caracas in Algeria.
His last destination as ambassador was Argentina, during the first years of the presidency of Hugo Chavez. He has recently worked as an international relations consultant and has written about the latest political events in Argentina, in addition to a historical work on the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in World War II.
His years in El Salvador and Algeria coincided with periods of armed conflict in both countries. For a time, residents in El Salvador controlled his whereabouts and he received telephone calls at his house seeking to intimidate him, in which they told him that they knew that he had just arrived at his home.
Although the situation in those countries is totally different from the current political moment in Venezuela, they have prepared González Urrutia for the unique stress that can come with being a candidate or political leader in the South American country, where the regime’s rivals – real or perceived – including members of Machado’s campaign team, have been arrested, threatened and charged before the vote.
The Maduro regime has persecuted the opposition despite promises that it would pave the way for fair elections in exchange for relief from economic sanctions imposed by the US last decade in response to deteriorating democratic and political conditions. human rights in the country. The latest measures led Washington to reimpose suffocating oil sanctions last month.
“They are situations that teach one to live in stressful situations, in dangerous situations, in risky situations, in situations where personal insecurity is evident,” said González Urrutia about his stages in El Salvador and Algeria. “So yes In that sense, they are experiences that help you manage yourself, to function in an environment that is complicated and difficult,” he explained.
Source: With information from AP
